(Joshua Paladino, Headline USA) President Joe Biden could face an early October surprise as 60,000 unionized railroad workers, including engineers and conducts, plan to start striking on Sept. 16, American Greatness reported.
The planned strike would cost the American economy $2 billion per day, prevent agricultural products from reaching manufacturing plants, and cause food shortages at stores and restaurants.
And it would likely cost the Biden administration and the Democrats their precarious hold on the House and Senate.
The Biden administration has negotiated with the unionized workers for weeks to reach a deal and prevent a strike. Those efforts have mostly failed, though unions representing 45,000 other railroad employees have agreed to new contracts.
The 60,000-person strike would cripple America’s railroads, which transport 30% of the nation’s food and other products.
The planned strike in itself bodes poorly for Democrats, even without the devastating secondary consequences that it will cause—rising prices, delayed deliveries, and shortages—because it shows that Biden cannot control a key Democratic constituency: union workers.
And unlike with other recent economic crises, Democrats will not have a clear opportunity to deflect the blame. Politico reported that Biden “has been directly in touch with unions and railroad companies” to avoid the strike.
His Cabinet members—including Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack—have talked with union leaders and the National Mediation Board in hopes of finding a settlement, too.
The Biden administration established a Presidential Emergency Board that negotiated for higher pay, back pay and cash bonuses. However, the unions who represent conductors and engineers want more, and they have the leverage to demand it as the entire economy sits on the brink of collapse.
The consequences have begun to set in.
Amtrak suspended three long-distance routes and part of another. Norfolk Southern has reduced freight transportation services.
One anonymous Politico source said a strike remains unlikely.
“My view is that a strike is unlikely, and that the likeliest scenarios are, one, that they reach an 11th hour or 11th hour and 59 minute deal,” said a person who claimed knowledge about the negotiations. “The second likeliest scenario is they extend the cooling off period so that they can have more time to cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s.”
